Wandering to Belong

by Jess Mountifield

  ***

  As the smell of the nearest goblins hit Cathal, he changed direction. He'd told Aneira they would be dealt with and there was no time like the present. Any creatures that had subjected humans to the atrocities she'd mentioned deserved to be wiped from existence, and it had been a while since he'd eaten.

  The only thing he'd have to be careful about was their arrows. The goblins had shot poisoned ones at the poor woman several times, and poisons made him feel rough for several hours. In theory, if enough of it made its way to his blood stream it might even kill him, although he'd never had more than one dose at any point.

  An hour later he'd barbecued over thirty of them and eaten more than he should in one go. It surprised him that Aneira had thought she could take on so many of them all by herself, although her short battle against the four he'd seen had been impressive; she was very resourceful.

  While he was breathing fire on another set of unwary goblins, from a hole in the floor above them, he reached out with his mind to see what he could still sense in his domain. Instantly he felt her; she was making her way east far below him. He also felt the presence of another sixty or so goblins, including a much stronger one back near the large entrance where he'd first seen her.

  He picked up the pace and headed to the leader. There were a lot more in the horde than she had given indication of. Reinforcements of some kind must have arrived, so there were still too many for the village to defeat alone. The last time he had flown nearby there had only been about twenty strong males, and he doubted many of them knew how to fight.

  When he got near to the strongest life force he moved with more care. There was a mass of them hiding in the archway and he could smell the smoke of a fire they must have set. As soon as he started on this bunch they would more than likely scatter.

  Cathal headed up until he was near an open roof and flew out. It was day, so they would probably see him coming, but this would ensure they ran inside, under cover, allowing him to finish them off at his leisure.

  He wheeled upwards as quietly as he could, folded his wings and plummeted down towards them. About two hundred metres high, he was spotted and the goblins started running. He exhaled, setting many of them alight and causing the rest to run inside, just as he'd hoped. As he pulled up, he heard the twang of bowstrings. He banked left but wasn't quick enough. An arrow caught him underneath one of his scales on his underside.

  With a snarl he plunged again, and more flames spread across and through the entrance. More shrieks and yelps of pain caught his ears and he felt their life forces fade. A few still remained unharmed but they were running farther into the fortress. They would be easy to mop up now.

  As soon as he landed he pulled the arrow out from where it had lodged. The wound bled a small amount but it would do him no long-term harm. Just in case, he sniffed the arrow head. The faint smell of Essence of Murdew. Not the first time he'd been poisoned with it. He would have a sore head for a while but would be fine. He didn't want to get hit with it again, however. It was not something he'd built up much of a resistance to.

  Just as he expected, the leader had run and left his minions to fend for themselves, but he'd fled farther in and Cathal could sense him trying to work his way around the same ledge he'd first seen her on. He chuckled and snorted some more flames on a goblin he'd spotted out of the corner of his eye.

  Several minutes later he came up on the great hall from the other side. This time he didn't hesitate and filled the place with fire. He gave it a few lungfulls, rather than only one, and then waited as the horde leader fell into the lake. This time there would be no rescue.

  An hour later he had mopped up most of the other goblins. One or two remained, dotted here and there, but several had turned on each other while he had been making his rounds, and there were so few left they would not be able to threaten the village any longer.

  If any came near him he would deal with them, but he had wandered the place long enough. Both his head and his stomach hurt, one from poison and the other from indigestion.

  As he finished checking the final number of living goblins, he noticed Aneira was still beneath him, in the bottom level of the great fortress, and not moving. He stopped and waited to see if she moved after a few minutes but she didn't. This woman was proving to be problematic.

  Feeling a little irritated by all these continued presences in his home he trudged back up to the top of the main section and went to the tunnel that led down to her. By the time he reached her level she was still there and as far as he could tell she hadn't moved an inch, nor was there any light source coming from up ahead. She was in the pitch black.

  “You are still here,” he said as he came up beside her. She sat on the ground with her knees up under her chin, looking a bit like a small child who was bored. As soon as she turned her head and saw him she leapt to her feet and did an awkward curtsey.

  “Sorry, my lord. I was about to leave but I couldn't find a way to cross, and then my light went out.”

  “Do you not carry anything with you to light your way?” It was all he could do to keep his anger out of his voice. Why were women so ill-prepared?

  “I do, but it got rather wet when I took a swim in your lake.”

  “Ah.” He could have hit himself. That was his fault. As he looked out over the chasm he realised she was right. The bridge that had been there five days ago had gone. It must have fallen while he was out hunting somewhere. If it had given way while he was there the noise would have reached his ears. There was no way she could have crossed.

  For a moment he considered leading her back up and out another way but as he looked back at her he knew that would be unkind. From her aura he could tell she was already exhausted and it was not a short journey back to the village, without having to go right to the top of the fortress just to come down again.

  “Climb up on my back, I will fly you over,” he said, his words surprising himself.

  “My lord? Ride a dragon? Me?”

  He chuckled at her wide eyes. After a moment she recovered from her shock and very gently climbed up his folded leg onto the scales of his back. The feeling of her soft padded feet tickled him a little but he ignored it. As soon as she was settled with one leg either side of his back ridge and holding on with both hands, he spread his wings and leapt off the ledge.

  Within moments he was on the other side and she slid off his back onto the floor.

  “Wow, thank you. That was...” her voice trailed off and she shook her head. It made him grin.

  “You should go first. Some of these passages are a tight fit and I block all light getting through them. You would be left to stumble behind in the dark.”

  She nodded her acknowledgement of his words and started walking down the inclined pathway. The farther they went, the rougher the walls and floor grew, until the tunnel was no longer manmade, but natural.

  “Did you... Was it you who healed me and moved me somewhere safer?” she said, breaking their silence.

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You're welcome, but I did cause you the damage that I fixed. I thought you were here to try and kill me.”

  “I didn't even know dragons were real, let alone that one still existed.”

  “I think I might be the last.”

  “Just like I'm the last of my people.”

  “Yes.” Despite the sadness of this sentiment, he smiled. There was something about this woman he liked.

  His thoughts were suddenly distracted by the tunnel narrowing and he sucked in his stomach to wriggle through the gap. They lapsed into silence again but this time it didn't feel uncomfortable. It was the silence of companions who had said everything they needed for the time being and could just 'be' together.

  Light soon shone up ahead and he walked out into the day with her. They were just past the foot of the mountains and a mile or so from the black stone giant they had been in moments before. The day was already waning and it would be dark bef
ore she got to the village.

  “I have dealt with the majority of the goblin horde, over seventy of them dead.”

  “That many? I was only followed in by about twenty. I'd already killed over ten!” she said and raised her eyebrows.

  “That would explain why you thought you could save the village. I can believe you would have challenged thirty, but not over a hundred.”

  “No, I'd have run and never looked back had I known that many lingered here. No wonder the village could not save themselves.”

  “I think there are only about ten more, but most of them were lost alone or in pairs in my fortress. I will eat them when I can stomach some more.” His statement made her giggle.

  “Thank you, for all your help. I will let the village know what you have done for them.”

  “No! You must promise not to mention me to the village, or ever let anyone know of this entrance to my domain.” He snapped his response and regretted it straight away. She had meant no harm. “Most humans see me as a beast and try to have me killed. I just wish to live the rest of my life in peace.”

  “I understand... I won't tell them.”

  “Thank you.” He nodded his head at her and turned to go.

  “What do I tell them? They will want to know how they are safe.”

  “Tell them you killed the thirty that chased you. Had I not interfered you might have managed that much.”

  “Well then, good bye.” She smiled, waved and started walking. He watched her for a moment before retreating from the daylight back into his lair.

  As he reached the room he normally slept in he expected to feel relieved that everything was back to normal in his part of the world, but he felt like there was a hole, like something was missing. Despite that, he settled his sore head down on his front legs and closed his eyes.